Abstract
AbstractPhilanthropy is a contentious and often polarising topic within egalitarian social movements. There are good reasons for this. Philanthropy is reliant on the inequalities inherent in the capitalist system, is fundamentally at odds with democratic relationships, and can moderate or control the activities of recipients. This article therefore starts from the premise that philanthropy violates egalitarian ideals in very significant ways. However, it goes on to suggest that, absent a ruptural change that would drastically weaken the bases of philanthropic wealth, there is a strategic and contingent case for its selective use so long as it pushes existing configurations of power in more egalitarian directions. In making this case, the article draws primarily on the work of Wright (2010) but also on recent developments in the political theory of philanthropy. It calls for a critical literacy around philanthropy that combines an openness to experimentation with a clear-eyed sense of its significant risks. In this respect, it outlines specific conditions and strategies that movements should adopt if they pursue or accept philanthropic funding. Firstly, movements must deliberately articulate and actively defend their transformative vision, clarifying in the process the tactical place of philanthropy within this. Secondly, they must resist funder conditionalities, and preserve egalitarian modes of organising in the face of practices which undermine participatory ideals and threaten relations of care and solidarity. The article’s chief contribution is to integrate normative insights with lessons from the sociological literature on movement-philanthropy relations, for the sake of systematically untangling a live and troublesome issue within the praxis of radical movements.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference75 articles.
1. Alexander, Sophie, Szu Chen, Yu, and Shera Avi-Yonah. 2021. MacKenzie Scott’s money bombs are single handedly reshaping America. Bloomberg, 12 August, https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-mackenzie-scott-donations/?sref=ekORE1fh&s=03 Accessed 1 July 2022.
2. Anheier, Helmut K., Sarah Förster, Janina Mangold, and Clemens Striebing. 2018. Foundations in Germany: A portrait. American Behavioral Scientist 62(12): 1639–1669. https://doi-org.ezproxy.itcarlow.ie/10.1177/0002764218773436.
3. Baker, John. 2005. Equality: What, who, where. Imprints, 9 (1), 29–41. https://imprintsjournal.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/complete-vol-9-no-1.pdf.
4. Baker, John. 2015. Conceptions and dimensions of social equality. In Social equality: On what it means to be equals, ed. Carina Fourie, Fabian Schuppert and Ivo Wallimann-Helmer, 65–86. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199331109.003.0004.
5. Baker, John, Kathleen Lynch, Sara Cantillon, and Judy Walsh. 2009. Equality: From theory to action. 2nd edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.